Must be the most open world cup that has ever been staged. Any side that puts a few decent performances together has a great chance of winning it. England are a chaotic, talentless rabble and the bookies still have them 9/1, shorter odds than Australia and Argentina.
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Yeah, England are fucking terrible. He has just brought back all the old brigade.
The last time the tournament was held in France, a chaotic, not very talented rabble of an England team which had lost 36-0 in the group stage still made the final.
I donât think that will happen this time.
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Medium only art. Iâll message you
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It was a terrible tackle. High, drove his shoulder into the face, zero effort to bend his back or wrap his arms the two fundamentals of a proper tackle
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Argentina will beat them in the first game if they donât have farrell
A rugbix
A rugbix excusix
Groups made way too far in advance. If FIFA can set fixtures way closer to start of the world cup then it should be easier again for WR to do.
World Rugby definitely.need.to up their game.on this front
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Wanker
Really crowd getting excuses in early
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Didnât realise Scotland had risen to 5th in world rankings. Thatâs some achievement for them, I was told before there are about 5000 adult rugby players in the country.
The imports from South Africa have really developed brilliantly under the current setup and theyâve good young Jocks stepping up like DâArcy Graham. Theyâre due a result against Farrellâs boys and it could well be in France.
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It is long overdue tbf
Theyâre trying to import from the AIL theyre that short of numbers coming thru their system.
Thatâs why I expected them to drop down the rankings and stay dropping. I spent a lot of time there and hardly anybody in the cities cared and the borders towns are suffering from depopulation. The fact they are up to 5th suggests the overall picture isnât great in other countries either, but it also shows how mismanaged the game in England is.
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I donât pay too much heed to the official rankings. Theyâre a pretty convoluted manner of keeping the big boys at the top table really.
Minnows rarely get the opportunity to scalp ranking points off the big boys whereas the annual 6 Nations and Rugby Câship ensures regular competition against high/higher ranked teams which account for higher points towards ranking.
Given thereâs less than a half dozen genuine contenders, Iâd prefer ranking ignored and an open draw made.
Dropping to two pro teams has worked for them they can fund them reasonably well.
Listened to a podcast with Freddie burns and Jim Hamilton recently and they were talking about English club rugby, itâs a fucking shit show and likely will be further casualtiesâŚabout 130 senior players lost contracts with clubs that went bust last season, plus all the academy and development players feeding into those clubs. Massive dent in playing pool and pathway following on
Think theyâre fucked. If they were half as good at developing as they are at scouting, theyâd have more success in medium/long term.
Theyll continue to take the occasional big scalp but I canât see how they can get to consistent competitiveness with the path theyâre on
Theyre both blessed and cursed thereâs no trap door in 6 Nations.
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